I swear to God this house is being consumed by wood lice. These mini armadillos are everywhere at the moment, popping out from beneath the skirting boards and crawling across the carpet, appearing from nowhere in kitchen drawers, strolling in through the front door and even dropping from the bedroom ceiling. It occurred to me that I knew nothing of these creatures or how they live, what damage they do and for that matter how to get rid of them – or at least reduce their numbers.
The more I read about the humble woodlice the more strange they appear. According to informed sources they are the only of the crustaceans (e.g. crabs, prawns and lobsters) to have evolved from the sea, and they still breath through gills which are situated on their legs. This adaptation to dry land only goes so far as they still need to live in areas of high humidity. Once a woodlouse enters a dry area they die within several hours because they don’t have the ability to prevent moisture loss.
The rainy summer we’ve had explains the sudden rise in the woodlice population, they thrive in wet conditions. In addition, the fact that damp can be a continuing problem in this old house and the plants growing near the exterior walls don’t help. But I’m not about to rip out the garden because of these little invaders. The fact is they don’t appear to do much damage at all and they tend to die anyway, if they stay too long in a dry environment (I’d vacuumed up quite a few desiccated carcasses already). Nope, the more I understood, the more I realised this was going to be a case of live and let live.
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